The battle of Hagelberg and NBd

The battle of Hagelberg was finished the last week-end resulting in a marginal French victory. The number of losses was similar for both sides but the French maintained open their retreat line. The addition of the stream and farm to the battle map, marked the main difference with the actual battle of Hagelberg, disrupting Prussian attacks. Moreover, the Prussian coordination failed and the different attacks were not issued simultaneously. At last, the French offensive was stopped, but the Magdeburg garrison was not so mauled like in the actual Campaign of Leipzig.

I'll upload the pictures and narrative to the main site in the next days. Until then, see three schemes showing the initial Prussian and French battle plans as well as the final situation

Divisional Napoleon's Battles performance
NBd behaved well but I detected another quirk during play: the need to include flank and rear attacks which are not considered in NB because of the scale: the brigade commanders simply will change the front of one of the battalions of the brigade to fight the flanking or rear enemy brigade. However, in NBd the units are battalions so the above consideration no longer apply. To take into account that occurrence, in NBd an unit attacked in flank or/and rear will receive an additional '-3' modifier for combat.

Summarising up, I'll use NBd to fight minor engagements

Hagelberg on the way

The refought of Hagelberg is now in progress. As it can be expected, I am finding more inconsistencies between original NB and my adaptation to divisional scale NBd. Fortunately, all can be solved by adapting the mechanisms of the original NB. The two questions are:
1) Skirmishers and enemy cavalry. This a dangerous situation for the infantry and will further reduce the fire effect of the skirmishers. The answer is to use the NB Fire modifier: "Infantry is not protected vs. attacking cavalry" in all ocassions when enemy cavalry is at reach distance of skirmishers.
2) Changes of formation. All formation changes spend one NBd turn. However, this basic duration will be increased if the formation changes were made by units with half-move allowances (two turns instead), or by units moving in rough terrain which must use their Rough Terrain Modifier. While changing formation, all units will be considered as "disordered" for fire and combat.

The battle is now in the 7th turn. Have a look at the first French (failed) attack: the 3rd/24th d'Infanterie Légère is routed by the 3rd/4th of Kurmark Landwher.

The battle of Hagelberg. Preliminaries

I have started the re-fight of my version of the battle of Hagelber using divisional Napoleon's Battles (NBd). After laying the terrain and enroling the units (finding incidentally than I have not sufficient Landwher figures for all required battalions and that Line Prussian figures must be used instead) I have played three NBd turns, i.e. approximately one Napoleon's Battles (NB) turn.
I have found the first and expected problem: the artillery is too powerful. In around 30 minutes, the French guns have dispersed two Landwher battalions whereas Russian artillery has routed and expelled a Croatian (pro-French) battalion from a loopholed farm.
The conclusion is obvious: the artillery hitting power must be decreased. In the next turns I'll apply the same rule than for skirmish fire: "a two-losses results is converted to one-loss, and a one-loss result is a miss".
I'll continue the play during the week but until the next long week-end (thursday to sunday) the battle will be not finished. Until then, you can see Girard on the Windmühlberg hill as he's watching (with some apprehension?) the approaching Prussians.

Hagelber battle in the Digby's data book

Taken from the oustanding and massive reference work of Digby Smith (a.k.a Otto Von Pivka)

SX Hagelberg, 27 August 1813, clash
A village in northeastern Germany, 50 km southwest of Postdam, just north of Route B246 and 5 km west of Belzig. Known to rhe French as "Lübnitz", a hamlet 5 km north of Hagelberg.
A Prussian victory over the French.
French forces GdB Baron Girard commanding: 18e, 56e and 72e RIdLi; 1st Croatian IR, 1e Carabiniers, 13e HusR (4 sqns); 4 x march sqns.
French total ca 10,000 men, 22 guns
French losses 2,000 killed and wounded; (GdB Baville killed); 140 officers; 2,000 men surrended to the Prussians with 5 guns and 2 howitzers, a further 1,700 with 1 gun and 3 ammunition waggons were taken by Tschernitcheff's Cossacks. The division was effectively destroyed.
Prussian Forces The Corps os Magdeburg and the Lower Elbe of the Army of the North. GM von Puttlitz, GM von Hirschfeldt: 1st Res IR (3 bns); 3rd Kurmark LWIR (2 bns); 4th Kurmark LWIR (3 bns) ; 6th Kurmark LWIR (4 bns); 7th Kurmark LWIR (2 bns); Elbe IR (4th Bn). Cavalry Obst von Bismarck: 3rd, 5th and 6th Kurmark LWKRs (4 sqns each); 10 x Russian, 1 x Prussian guns.
Prussian total ca 16,000 men
Prussian losses 39 officers, 67 NCOs, 913 men killed and wounded.
Tschernitcheff's Cossacks Lt Col Prince Lapuchin: Pulks of Illowasky IV and Diätschkin. GM Illowasky IV; Pulks of Vlassov III, Balabin II and Rebrikov II. Col Melnikov V; Pulks of Melnikof IV and Melnikof V; Col Bekendorf; Pulks of Sissojev III, Giroff and Grekov XVIII, GM Count Narischin; Pulks of Andrejanov II and Lotschilin I.
Cossack total ca 4,000 men
Cossack losses Not known exactly but very light.
Sources Plotho, Sporschil, Martinien.

A wonderful diorama... and video

Hi
Watch this wonderful video about the Hans Slaager's Waterloo diorama. The video was made by Benno de Groot and it is shown in his web site

The battle of Hagelberg (August 27, 1813)

This battle was fought between the French Girard’s Garrison - or Division- of Magdeburg and the Prussian Hirschfeld corps. Whereas the goal of Girard’s force (composed by some French 3rd battalions and Rheinbund troops) was to join Oudinot in the advance towards Berlin, the Hirschfeld's force (Prussian Reserve and Landwher and Russian Cossacks) was posted to the right wing of the Bernadotte’s Army of the North to cover that flank watching, precisely, the approach of the Magdeburg Garrison.
The Scenario is loosely based on this battle and is intended for Divisional Napoleon’s Battles (NBd). The order of battle and maps are adapted from the George Nafziger’s book ‘Napoleon at Dresden. The battles of August 1813’ (Emperor’s Press, Chicago, 1992).

The battle finished with the rout of the French, an unusual fact because that rout was at the hands of a force consisting in Prussian Landwehr, which only recently had changed their pikes by muskets, and Cossacks. The main reasons lie on Girard which was fulfilling his first independent command and also in the high motivation of the Prussians fighting in their country against an unmotivated French force formed by conscripts and war-tired veterans. The Prussian loss were 1800 men (a 20%) claiming around 5000 French losses including 7 guns and the entire divisional wagon train: the Magdeburg garrison was virtually wiped out.
Find the Scenario and map (and some more things) at my web-site
Next week the battle as fought!

Divisional Napoleon's Battles or 'A heresy. Part 3'

Brigade commanders and other Generals
Because of the modification of scale, NBd needs now the inclusion of Generals de Brigade for the combat units as a last step in the command chain. Brigade commanders will have a reduced Comand radius extending only to his own brigade and to the divisional battery and their remaining abilities will be assigned according those from the actual brigade generals when known. To calculate the points value of Generals, consider NBd Brigade Generals like NB Division Generals and NBd Division Generals like NB Corps General but without any drop.

Assignment of casualties
The proposed modifications of the scales of men and time approximately (exactly?) cancel each other, so initially there is no need for further change in the assignment of casualties, because the product [men (or guns) x time] remains near constant.
The main danger of this approach could be an excesive hitting power for artillery resulting from the great number of batteries, so this effect can be further researched.

Change of formation
In NBd a turn expands only 10 (7.5) minutes, a time-length similar to the taken by almost all the formation changes carried out by battalions or cavalry regiments but a brigade taken many more time (see Jeffrey G., Tactics and Grand Tactics of the Napoleonic Wars, Ed. by Ned Zuarko, The Courier Publishing Co., 1988).
In NB that is abstracted by substracting the time of formation changes from their lesser Line movement allowance. The net result is that only very well drilled brigades, have any additional mowement allowance left after changing formation.
The simpler way to model that in NBd is to consider that all formations changes of individual combat units take a turn to complete, i.e. 10 (7.5) minutes. Brigade evolutions are then made by the individual units using their new movement allowances.

Evidently, all these thoughts and wonderings must be carefully play-tested and the next step will be the design or adaptation of divisional Scenarios.

Divisional Napoleon's Battles or 'A heresy. Part 2'

The fire problem
In NB, the so-called infantry fire of the Fire Phase is a combination of the fire of both skirmishing infantry and light divisional guns. That combination is abstracted and neither skirmish infantry nor divisional artillery are represented in the tabletop. However, the use of a bigger terrain scale in NBd implies the use of 'real' divisional gun models and skirmish figures.

Divisional guns can be represented and treated in a similar way to NB heavy and horse 'normal' batteries: they will fire during the Fire Phase and, like normal combat units, will need to be in command in order to move or change formation. Divisional guns can be commanded by their divisional (or brigade) commander applying the habitual NB command rules. No modification is needed beyond their inclusion in the OOB's.

The skirmish screen extended from the main firing line until a distance of 100 or 500 yards depending on the skirmish ability of the troops. In NBd, skirmishing figures will be placed on the tabletop scattered into the fire area of the brigade, i.e. from the base front of their accompanying formed infantry until a distance of 4-20 inches or 10-50 cm. However, in no case they can enter in contact (touch) with enemy formed units. The skirmishers can be represented by normal infantry bases scattered in a similar way to the NB open order or by special open order bases.

The real effect of the skirmish fire is (and was at that time) an arguable matter. The number of resulting casualties was small and the main achievement of skirmishers was to disorder enemy formed units whereas simultaneously protecting the own from the enemy. To model the effects of skirmishing at divisional scale, I'll try one of the solutions pointed in my Modifications of Napoleon's Battles page. These skirmish house-rules (discused in the Yahoo napbattles group were used in my NB Scenarios for the Peninsular War (see the link for Scenarios at righ menu) and arosen from the need to discount the effect of divisional guns. The possibilites can be summarized as:
1) Use an additional negative modifier (“-3”?) to Infantry Fire Factors, OR
2) Modify the ‘Resolving Fire’ Rule so a ‘two losses’ result is converted to ‘one loss’ and a ‘one loss’ is a miss, OR
3) Carry out the infantry fire as usual without any modifier. The resulting losses are not marked on the target unit, but are only used to cause disorder
The last option can be discouraging: too many die-rolling for nothing! and the first one will need further research to find the optimum factor so initially I'll use the second: A ‘two losses’ result is converted to ‘one loss’ and a ‘one loss’ is a miss and the disorder in the target unit is assigned as usual.
All above considerations also apply to cavalry skirmishers.

Next time about command radii, casualties and changes of formation

Wondering about scales

I am trying to find a Napoleonic rule-set to play minor, i.e divisional, engagements occuring at the Campaign of Leipzig or in any other Napoleonic Campaign. I could use a commercial tactical rule-set (Shako, General de Brigade...) or a free downloable set such as Eagles and Glory or Serrez les Rangs or one of the myriad of free sets available at the Freewargamesrules site. However, I don't want to waste my quickly diminishing neurons so I pretend to use Napoleon's Battles (NB) at divisional scale (NBd).
Yes, NB is a grand tactical rule set so (1) all the scales (men, terrain and time) must be changed, (2) some things abstracted in the original NB (skirmishers, artillery fire...) and (3) other new arising problems (brigade/battalion/regiment commanders and their command radii...) must be resolved.
A query to Napoleon's Battles community in the Yahoo napbattles group was quick and kindly answered by Paul McAndrew and Luke Willen. From their suggestions I have decided to use initially the following scales
Green numbers imply a non definitive decision

- Men 1/30
- Terrain 1/900 (1 in. to 25 yds.)
- Time 10 min per turn (or 7.5 min)
- Artillery 1 model/4 guns

The general picture of a NB battle is almost maintained in NBd although the combat units are now infantry battalions, cavalry regiments and batteries. The global effect is a MAGNIFICATION of both battlefield (4:1) and time (3:1 or 4:1? ) resulting in

1) A NB infantry 4-figures stand becomes a NBd company (120 men) so a typical infantry battalion will have 4-7 stands
2) A NB cavalry 4-figures stand becomes a NBd squadron
3) A NBd artillery battery is composed from 2 or 3 gun models (according to the strenght of the original)
4) All fire distances and command radii must be multiplied by 4
5) The movement distances remain un-changed since the modifications in terrain (space) and time scales approximately (or exactly) cancel one to another.
For example: a movement of 10 in. in NB implies a speed of 1000yds/30min. In NBd an unit at that speed will march in a turn of 10 (7.5) min. a distance of 1000*10/30=333.3 yds (1000*7.5/30=250 yds) or a tabletop distance of 333.3/25=13.3 (250/25=10) in.

In that way the general vision of a NB battle will be loosely maintained and the next question to resolve will be the assignment of casualties.